Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3:7-9
We don’t always get to have life work the way we want. We sometimes have to do it the way someone else made it. The way they do it. But we want that control, that sense of power to do things our way.
Not exactly a new idea though. Burger King commercials[1] latched onto this in 1974. The catchy jingle set it apart from McDonalds and every other fast food company on the planet.
Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce;
Special orders don’t upset us.
All we ask is that you let us
serve it your way
But God’s way isn’t our way. We want to earn it. To deserve it When we’ve earned it, then we don’t owe anyone anything. We got was we earned, what we deserved. And no one can take it away from us.
Here we see that God chose Abraham. We may not like to hear that, but that’s the way it is. Abraham didn’t do anything to earn or deserve it. God reached down from heaven and out to Abraham and chose him.
God reached out and chose Abraham, but he had a choice. It was Abraham’s choice whether to accept God’s kind offer or turn his back on God. Abraham was free to go in another direction. He could have continued down the path of trying to be a good person. But Abraham reached out his empty hand and received what God was offering.
Blessing always comes from the outside, in. It never, never, never comes at the end of a pay period. Blessing doesn’t come from what we do, it comes from who God is and what he gives.
This is how it works. This is how it is. It’s not a new idea. God brings us back to himself through faith. Period. He does all the reaching. He does all the calling. He does it all.
God did the calling and made Abraham his child. God brought Abraham to himself, and he believed God. But it didn’t end there.
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6
Abraham’s spiritual bank account wasn’t just empty, he was way in debt. Ub above his eyeballs. The spiritual bill collectors were banging on the doors of his life, demanding payment. But there was nothing in his pockets to start to pay them with.
This is where God met Abraham. He was spiritually down and out, living without God in his life. And this is exactly where God meets us to.
without hope and without God in the world.
Ephesians 2:12
God offers to make us right with himself through faith. He does all the paying, he does all the justifying, he does all the work. And when we receive him and his payment to bring us back to himself.
We’re offered exactly what Abraham was. God is reaching out to us, offering to bring us back. But like Abraham, our part is to believe. We have to walk the walk of Abraham. The walk of faith.
Abraham was accepted by God on the basis of faith. And God offers the same to all of us. God doesn’t care what you’ve done. Where you come from.
There’s lots of talk about inclusion today. But the definition being used is nothing compared to God’s. He’s the ultimate king of inclusion when it comes to us. He’s not only willing to bring us into his family, he’s paid the price to make it a reality.
So, the choice is up to us. Are we willing to receive all that God is offering? Or are we going to keep up the fake façade of trying to make ourselves clean, pure, holy?
There is no time like the present to believe, to receive all that God gives. It will change everything.
And if you’ve already believed, is it changing everything about the way you live? The way you see God working in your everyday life?
It’s not a new idea, but it’s certainly an idea who’s time has come.
Noodling Questions
What’s your reaction to the idea that God chose you?
How did believing God change Abraham’s life?
What’s the hardest part of accepting God’s love by faith?
[1] https://youtu.be/FkY2hRCb0PQ
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